Seems Vodka Lil, Councillor Eileen Leask has something else other than being deselected to worry about today.

Apparently she is very worried about the impact of the new ‘drop in’ health centre planned for Cleadon Park on South Tyneside District Hospital, especially the A & E department, click here.

Mr Monkey reckons that the Gazette reporter, Paul Myles-Kelly should pay a bit more attention to spelling. If he had, he would have realised the Vodka Lil meant she was worried about the AA department!

Lets face it, Eileen Leask wouldn’t want everyone to know what a struggle it is to give up the vodka would she?

'Councillor Potts uses his own mental health experiences to help himself'

Cleadon and East Boldon councillor David Potts who has a history of mental illness is hoping he can use his own experiences to change people’s perception of mental illness.

Councillor Potts, who is till trying to get his life in order after being detained under section 4 of the Mental Health Act following his deselection as the prospective Conservative Parliamentary candidate in the Labour held Edinburgh South constituency at the next General Election, is now backing a national campaign to get a section of the Mental Health Act, which states an MP can never sit in Parliament if they suffer a nervous breakdown while in office, changed.

Under Section 141 of the Mental Health Act 1983, an MP automatically loses their seat if detained under the Act for a period of 6 months or more.

He said: “how can this be fair? Basically what this says to people is, if like me, you’ve suffered from a mental health problem, your opinions will never be valid again”.

He went on to say, “this means that people who have the most experience of the system cannot change the system.

“When I was about 14 I started getting very depressed and became paranoid and I’ve had to cope with these feelings ever since. Things became extremely difficult for my family after I tried to kill myself and as you can imagine, I wasn’t a very pleasant person to be around”

“Eventually, my mam took me to the local hospital to see one of the doctors there and he said he wanted me to go into hospital. They basically said to me I could either go voluntarily, or I could be sectioned for up to six months.”

Councillor Potts, who is a self employed financial trader and lives in West Boldon, spent the next few months in hospital, is backing a national campaign by mental health charity Rethink, to raise awareness of mental health issues with MPs.

He said: “I am taking a big risk being so open about my mental health problems and there are things people can and I am sure will, say, it could also be the end of my politial ambitions, but if you go through something like this, you should be allowed to have your say.

“It’s essential that people who have experienced the system should be allowed to shape it”.

A year ago councillor David Potts was a rising star in the Conservative party after being selected as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate to stand against the Chancellor, Alistair Darling at the next general election.

Many Scottish Conservatives reckoned that he was destined for great things and even councillor David Potts believed that he would – at the very least become a minister in the new Conservative administration – that was until Mr Monkey revealed his antics here in South Tyneside to the world.

Within months of exposing the ‘real David Potts’ any ambitions he had to make it to Westminster were over. The Scottish Conservatives took the unusual step of effectively sacking him by removing him as their candidate and replacing him with Edinburgh councillor, Jason Rust who ironically had been pictured with David Potts on a number of occasions.

Councillor Potts found it difficult to come to terms with this rejection and his life quickly spiralled downwards.

Publicly he tried to convince the world that he had ‘resigned’ because of his father’s ill health and when it was pointed out to him by people who knew his father that this wasn’ttrue, he changed his story and claimed that the real reason he resigned was so that he could return to South Tyneside to fight the far right threat posed by the BNP.

He attended one meeting hosted by the leader of South Tyneside Council and to date no further meetings have been held.

Those close to councillor Potts feared for his safety and mental wellbeing as his behaviour became more erratic. They noticed that his drink problem had became more profound, he started to talk to imaginary beings and became increasing paranoid – he thought he was being followed by monkeys and started to see chimps everywhere.

This paranoia was coupled with depression, something he had suffered from as a child. He found it difficult to cope with and eventually retreated into his own world, he refused to answer his telephone, speak to anyone and then disappeared.

Some people thought he’d gone on holiday but Mr Monkey can now reveal that he returned to Scotland in an attempt to tackle his Edinburgh demons, but bottled it at the last minute and ended up in Glasgow.

He thought he was safe there where he could hide amongst the down and outs, tramps, alcoholics and drug addicts – that was until a jogger spotted him in the infamous Glasgow Green on the banks of the Clyde and called the police.

Apparently when the police arrived they found him unconscious on a park bench dressed in khaki shorts, a beige tshirt and a pith helmet. He was surrounded by a dozen toy monkeys, some of which had been mutilated and a fluffy chimp hanging from the tree above him in what appeared to have been a mock execution.

When the police roused him he refused to acknowledge their presence, pulled out a water pistol and started to ‘shoot’ the toy monkeys. He even tried to kiss and cuddle 2 blue monkeys which he kept referring to us Maggie and Smeagol.

At this point the police decided to ‘protect’ him and took him to the Gartnavel Royal Hospital where he was detained under section 4 of the Mental Health Act.

Mr Monkey can reveal that councillor Potts – who has a history of mental illness – is now hoping he can use his own experiences to change people’s perception of menal health and is campaigning for the law to be changed.

Seems everyone has an opinion about the Gaza conflict and a week after a ceasefire was declared, Mr Monkey is beginning to get a clearer picture about some of the atrocities that were committed against the people of Gaza.

Mr Monkey would like to share this picture with his readers.

Take a look at this slide show by CLICKING HERE – this is what happens when world leaders including our own Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and his Foreign Secretary, David Miliband fail to take decisive action to stop the use of disproportionate force against a largely civilian population trapped in one of the world’s most densely populated areas.

Mr Monkey makes no apologies for his slide show and reckons that these pictures speak louder than any words.

Like many people Mr Monkey has always thought the amount of coverage given to local villain Noddy Rice and his family was over the top. Back in August this post speculated as to the real reason for Papa John Szymanski’s (editor of the local snooze-paper and chair of the Malcolm Fan Club) obsession with all things ‘Noddy’.

Is Gazette Coverage Linked To Money?

Mr Monkey normally doesn’t bother buying a copy of the Gazette but tonight will be different!

Mr Monkey wants to check out the Family Notices pages to see how much money has been spent on death notices for Ryan Burns, aka ‘Noddy’ Rice’s son. He reckons that this may explain why the Gazette’s coverage of the Noddy Rice clan is always over the top.

Who knows, the Gazette might even break with recent tradition and actually include something worth reading!

UPDATE: Since Birdman Maclean sent his infamous attendance e-mail to all 54 councillors there’s been a flurry of activity amongst senior councillors, party whips and party leaders.

All councillors have been told to attend Thursday’s Full Council meeting and that no excuses will be accepted. If they fail to turn up certain councillors will face disciplinary action and possible de-selection.

Amazing what an e-mail can do!

Seems yesterday’s post about an investigation into councillors attendances has caused quite a stir within the town hall; it was the talk of the members lounge.

Apparently some members are wondering what the fuck the Gazette is playing at especially as the now infamous e-mail listing councillors attendances was sent by Birdman Maclean.

Some members are suggesting that Papa John Szymanski is being pressured into publishing councillor’s attendances by the Leader of the Council Miss Piggy Iain Malcolm to prove his loyalty .. could it be pay back time for all those sausage rolls and chickens drumsticks?

It seems Papa John has once again allowed himself to be manipulated by his paymaster or is he just doing some one else’s dirty work?

Mr Monkey reckons that whoever’s behind this has been very selective and has clearly got a hidden agenda.

Careful examination of the attendances shows that the person with the worst attendance record is Alan Branley (no surprise there) so is councillor Branley the target of Papa John and his paymaster? It will be interesting to see how the article is presented when it does finally appear.

Mr Monkey wonders whether Birdman’s article will be about the handful of councillors with the worst attendance record or will it be more about councillor Branley – a bit like the recent story about councillor Hanson’s failure to attend any NHS Trust meetings.

If so it will prove Mr Monkey’s theory that Papa John has deliberately allowed his paper to be used for political purposes, something that could cost him dear.

If Mr Monkey’s predictions are right then perhaps the Press Complaints Commission should be asked to look into what’s really going on at the Gazette and Mr Monkey might just make that call!